Wednesday, September 18, 2013

Today we found out that Warhammer Online will be shutting its doors on December 18th. I wish I could say I was surprised, but the silence over the past few months couldn't have meant anything else. I have not played the game for a while, but not a week (or day usually) goes by that I still don't think about it.

This blog was started because of Warhammer Online, and most of my readership was gained because of it. I have at least 1,000 posts on the topic of WAR. I've enjoyed every minute of playing the game and also writing about it. I've made a bunch of friends because of the game as well. So while I wish WAR's story had a different ending, I have no regrets over the time spent involved with the game.

I'm going to re-post something I wrote a while ago in the hopes WAR devs come across this post. WAR helped me through some difficult times, which I will always appreciate.

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In honor of WAR's 4th Birthday I am going to do something I never do on this blog, get personal. I've avoided doing it for years, as it is just the kind of person I am. But this is a story I want to share and explains why WAR will always be special to me.

Around 2006, my wife and I decided to try and have a baby. Everyone makes it look so easy to do, but in our case it was not. Eventually, with the help of Doctors we were able to get pregnant. Now, I am a naturally nervous person... always have been. This event turned that up a few notches for sure, but we were very happy.

Sadly, that all ended one day in an Emergency Room. It ended up being an Ectopic pregnancy, and my wife was rushed to surgery. Needless to say, we lost the baby and it it was looking like my wife would be unable to have another.

Fast forward a year or so... medical science (IVF) is an amazing thing these days. With the help of more doctors and even more money my wife was expecting again. If I was nervous before, now I was scared out of my mind that something bad was going to happen.

This is where WAR came into the picture. It still had a bit to go before launch, but reading all about it and starting this blog to write about it provided the perfect distraction. The timing could not have been better, as the same week WAR went live my first daughter was born. Like WAR, she is now 4 years old.

A couple years later when my wife was pregnant again, WAR was still there to provide a distraction so I didn't constantly worry. Everything went fine that time too :)

So thank you to Mythic and all those who work(ed) on WAR. You and your game helped me through some very rough times. I will always be grateful for that. Happy Birthday!